Video problems with digital camera

The problems of recording longer film clip on a digital stills camera

Having a compact digital camera, which could take both stills and movies seemed ideal, until it came to producing a simple DVD.

For years I have been filming school plays with my camcorder then editing and burning a DVD, all within a few hours. This time I filmed a one-hour performance using a Canon digital camera.

It gobbled up an entire 32gb memory card, and I could see no easy way to create a DVD. When I consider the added problem of digital still cameras not being able to focus continuously, would it not be more prudent to stick to the trusty camcorder?E M Peters, by email

Yes it would and attempts to create hybrid devices have been largely unsuccessful. There are a number of good reasons for this, and why video recording on consumer digital still cameras remains a secondary feature, for capturing short clips.

Ergonomics is one factor. Still cameras are mostly used two-handed, to aid stability, but this isn’t so important with a camcorder and they can be used one-handed, making it easier to pan or take low level and overhead shots.

Still cameras generally have larger image sensor chips with more pixels but this makes it harder to design the type of compact multi-role, high-power zoom and wide-angle lens used on camcorders. There is no good place for a microphone on a still camera that will prevent it picking up handling noises and memory cards do not come close to the recording capacity of tape or hard drives and struggle to cope with the very large amounts of data generated by high definition video recording systems.